1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to time and wavelength division multiplexing of binary and non-binary digital information for photonic transmission and information storage systems.
2. Background Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,366, Hait, describes a photonic method of parallel to serial conversion in col. 9 line 54 to col. 10 line 12 and col. 54 lines 1-13 and FIGS. 24 and 24A. What Hait does not teach is the means and method of providing the proper pulse timing needed in his FIG. 24A when the parallel information input provides pulses that arrive in parallel substantially at the same time.
Hait also does not teach how to use a single pulsed laser system (or other single pulsed photonic input system) to provide all the required sequential output pulses, including synchronization pulses, needed to provide a complete serial transmission system.
Nor does Hait teach how to interface electronic with photonic components in order to provide serial photonic transmission capable of operating at a rate faster than the rate at which electronic components provide parallel digital data input.
In the early days of electronic integrated circuit technology, attempts were made at "pulse racing," that is, timing the delay of signals traveling through a computer chip so that a number of signals arrive at a specific location having a specific timing relationship determined by the various delays applied to each signal. It was found that the many electronic variables involved, such as capacitance and inductance, made pulse racing impractical and unreliable as chip frequencies increased.
Electromagnetic energy, on the other hand, does not suffer from the level of capacitance and inductance complexities found in computer chips. The amount of delay that occurs along a photonic delay path can be determined quite accurately even into the subpicosecond range.
The present invention takes advantage of these characteristics of electromagnetic energy and the materials used with it to provide a complete time division multiplexing system that Hait does not.